Watford v Manchester United preview: Zlatan Ibrahimovic aims for start

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is pushing to start but Manchester United will have Romelu Lukaku available when they travel to Watford on Tuesday.

Lukaku looked to be potentially facing a suspension after appearing to kick out at Gaetan Bong during United’s 1-0 win over Brighton at the weekend.

However, a three-man panel of former officials decided no action will be taken against the striker, who has scored just once in his last 10 games.
Ibrahimovic, meanwhile, has made three substitute appearances after returning from a serious knee injury.

United remain second in the table after their win over Brighton, eight points behind leaders Manchester City, while Watford are eighth after they won 3-0 at Newcastle on Saturday.
„They have an unusual squad for a mid-table team,“ said Jose Mourinho of Watford.

„They have a squad full of very good players who are not normal to be in these mid-table teams. They have a good coach. They have improved a lot from last season too.“

Team news

Watford captain Troy Deeney returns after completing a three-match suspension. Defender Miguel Britos is a doubt after suffering a knock in the 3-0 victory over Newcastle and will be given a late fitness test.

Defenders Craig Cathcart (knee) and Younes Kaboul (hamstring), midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah (knee) and forward Isaac Success (knee) are likely to miss out once more.
Ibrahimovic is pushing for his first start since April, while Paul Pogba played his first 90 minutes against Brighton after nearly 10 weeks out with a hamstring injury.

Marcos Rojo could be rested if fellow defenders Eric Bailly or Phil Jones recover from injury, while captain Michael Carrick is building his fitness after having a cardiac ablation to deal with an irregular heart rhythm.
Opta stats

Watford have lost 12 of their last 13 games against Manchester United in all competitions, winning the other in the Premier League in this exact fixture last season (3-1).

Manchester United have lost their last two Premier League away games; 1-2 at Huddersfield Town and 0-1 at Chelsea. They haven’t lost three successive league away games since January 1996.
Watford’s 21-point tally from 13 games is their joint top-flight record at this stage of a season, tied with their best league campaign; when they finished 2nd in the 1982-83 season (also 21 points after 13 games).

Richarlison has been involved in seven goals in his last eight Premier League appearances for Watford (four goals, three assists).

Romelu Lukaku could make his 200th Premier League appearance in this match – he currently has 93 goals. Only 10 players have scored more goals than this in their opening 200 appearances in the competition, with Alan Shearer (145) leading the way.

Merson’s prediction

I watched Man Utd against Brighton, they were very fortunate and I do not see them winning this, I really do not. Watford, to me, are in a different league to Brighton, so I am going for a 1-1 draw here and a draw would be a shocking result for United as they need to win all their games. But I just do not see it, so I am going to go 1-1, and this will be a difficult game (for United).

PAUL PREDICTS: 1-1 (6/1 with Sky Bet)

Betting

Manchester United are Sky Bet’s 4/6 favourites with Watford up against odds of 4/1, while the draw is priced at 29/10. Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimovic share favouritism in the first goalscorer betting at 3/1 apiece, while Richarlison is considered the hosts’ main threat at 8/1 to break the deadlock.

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